CIECH

CIECH S.A.
Joint stock
Traded as WSE: CIE
ISIN PLCiech00018
Industry Chemicals
Founded 1945 (1945) in Łódź, Poland
Headquarters Warsaw, Poland
Key people
 Sebastian Kulczyk (Chairman of the Supervisory Board)[1]
Maciej Tybura (President of the Management Board)[2]
Products soda, salt, agro, glass, silicates, resins
Revenue 3.2 billion PLN[3] (2015)
Increase 346 million PLN[3] (2015)
Owner KI Chemistry S.À.R.L (51,14%)
ING Otwarty Fundusz Emerytalny - 9,49%
Towarzystwa Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU S.A. - 5,12% [4]
Number of employees
 3,900 (2014)
Subsidiaries CIECH Soda Romania
CIECH Sarzyna
CIECH Soda Deutschland
Website ciechgroup.com/en/

CIECH S.A., established in Łódź, Poland in 1945, is one of the leaders on the European chemical industry.[5] The CIECH Group consists of 8 manufacturing sites, in addition to trade and service businesses.[6] Its annual revenues place the company among the top fifty Polish companies.[5] In 2014, the company employed more than 3,900 people in Poland, Germany and Romania. CIECH is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since February 2005[7] and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since August 2016.[8]

Products

The CIECH Group offers high-end chemical products such as: soda ash (the second largest European provider), baking soda, salt, polyester and epoxy resins, agricultural products and glass products, as well as other chemicals. They are used by glass, food and furniture industries, for detergent production, in agriculture and in construction.[9]

History

The company was founded in 1945 as state-controlled "Centrala Importowo-Eksportowa Chemikalii i Aparatury Chemicznej" (Import-Export Centre for Chemicals and Chemical Instruments). From the very beginning, the company was exporting its products — soda ash, carbide and zinc white — to 12 countries. The first registered office was located in Łódź, Poland. In 1946, CIECH moved its headquarters to Warsaw.[10]

In the following years, the company continued its operations, exporting its products to an increasing number of global markets. In the early 1960s, the company was renamed "Centrala Handlu Zagranicznego CIECH" (Foreign Trade Centre CIECH), in which "CIECH" was an abbreviation of the name "Centrala Importowo-Eksportowa Chemikaliów" (Import-Export Centre for Chemicals). The 1960s and 1970s brought the company successes on the sulphur market (when Polish "yellow gold" held the second place in the world in export of this raw material), nitrogenous fertilisers, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, paints and varnishes. In 1976, nearly 95% of Polish chemical products were sold on foreign markets through CHZ CIECH.[10]

At the turn of the 1980s, at the beginning of the political transformation, CIECH was the largest foreign trade centre, with a monopoly for the delivery of oil to Polish refineries. In the 1990s, at the time when the centre celebrated its 45th anniversary, CIECH held the 97th place in the top hundred leading companies of the world. Poland's transition from a centrally planned economy to a free market economy entailed the loss of the monopoly for the delivery of oil. This coerced the company to transform into a modern and free market chemical company.[10]

Therefore, in the 1990s, the company initiated the process of building a capital group, concentrating major national manufacturing sites around itself. These transformations were crowned by the company's entry to the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2005, which proved a great success. It provided the company with access to capital and means of implementing bold activation measures. As a result of the company's listing on the stock exchange, its prestige increased, along with credibility and brand recognition. One year later, CIECH confirmed its position as one of the leaders of the European chemical industry by completing the purchase of the first foreign manufacturing subsidiary of the Group, a Romanian soda factory, "US Govora" (now: "CIECH Soda Romania"). In the same year, "ZCh Organika-Sarzyna" (now: "CIECH Sarzyna") was also purchased. In 2007, the company acquired a German soda manufacturer, "Sodawerk Stassfurt" (now: "CIECH Soda Deutschland"), and fortified its position as the second largest soda manufacturer in Europe.[10]

In 2014, CIECH acquired a new majority shareholder, the international investment group Kulczyk Investments.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "CIECH S.A.: Supervisory Board". Ciechgroup.com. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  2. ↑ "CIECH S.A.: Management Board". Ciechgroup.com. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  3. 1 2 "Annual financial results". Ciechgroup.com. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
  4. ↑ "CIECH S.A.: Shareholders". Ciechgroup.com. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  5. 1 2 Wojciech Rylukowski (2015-09-09). "Ciech to refinance PLN 1.75 bln of debt through bonds & loans | WBJ". Wbj.pl. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  6. ↑ "CIECH S.A.: CIECH Soda Polska". Ciechgroup.com. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  7. ↑ Alicja Ciszewska (2015-03-23). "Ciech to invest PLN 530 mln | WBJ". Wbj.pl. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  8. ↑ "CIECH's shares admitted to trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange". ciechgroup.com. 2016-08-22. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
  9. ↑ "Ciech S.A.: Ciech S.A". Ciechgroup.com. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "CIECH S.A.: History". Ciechgroup.com. Retrieved 2015-11-24.

External links

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